Dow Jones Enters into Negative Territory Driven by Corporate Earnings

Wall Street closed the session with losses, following a wave of new quarterly results that have disappointed investors. Stocks closed with losses for the third consecutive session after disappointing numbers such as the ones obtained by Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), which tumbled 3.6% after it reported weaker-than-expected sales for Q2 and lowered its full-year sales forecast.

After today's losses, the Dow Jones goes into negative territory so far this year. At the close of trading day, the Dow Jones lost 0.67%, the S&P 500 is down 0.57 % and the Nasdaq fell 0.49%.

In Europe, markets remained in balance or recorded slight losses affected by overall business results.

In London the decline was slight, 0.18%, even smaller was the case of the German index while the France's CAC 40 index added 0.08% to 5,086.74 on a day with little trading volume. On the other hand, Asian markets ended with gains in today's session. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.44%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng increased by 0.46% while China's Shanghai Composite added 2.43%.

Greece Gets Approval of a Second List of Reforms. Last night the Greek Parliament approved by a clear majority a series of new reforms demanded by international creditors. The approved reforms refer to the judicial and banking systems and were raised by creditors of Athens as a condition for progress in negotiations for a new rescue. Moreover, the European Central Bank confirmed new liquidity to the Hellenes banks through emergency loans worth 900 million Euros.

U.S. Jobless Claims Fall. Today it was known the weekly requests for unemployment benefits, which have fallen by 26,000 to 255,000; compared with 280,000 expected. This is the lowest level since November 1973, which many analysts interpreted it as a sign that the labor market is strong enough to keep the unemployment rate declining.

IBM (IBM) Makes Warren Buffet Lose More than $1 billion in Two Days. The "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffett has lost 1.024 billion in two days (on Monday and Tuesday) due to heavy falls in shares of IBM. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, is the major stockholder of the company with 79.56 million shares as of March 2015 and owning an 8.08% of the common shares of the tech firm. With American Express (AEX), Coca-Cola (KO) and Wells Fargo (WFC), the four companies amass 61.97% of the total portfolio value at the end of the first quarter of 2015. Other prominent investor with a huge position in the stock is “Canadian Warren Buffett”, Mr. Prem Watsa, who should not be pleased by this news. The stock closed today at $161.73 far below its Monday's close.

After-Hours Movers. Amazon.com (AMZN) surprised again investors and its shares jumped by 17% in after-hours trading after the retailer reported unexpected earnings for its second quarter.

Published on Jul 23, 2015

By Omar Venerio

Capital Markets, Derivatives and Financial Management Professor, Master in Finance and CFA candidate. I am an independent trader of stocks and options and passionate about the stock market.